SPARTA. Women with black lace veils dripping[Nice.] loosely from their head knelt quietly and read along in their missals with Father Fred Schmit, S.D.S., as he said the prayers of the Mass in Latin.

The small choir of St. Andrew Church in Sparta, sang ancient prayers that echoed through Catholic churches for centuries.

And for many of the approximately 140 people in the pews who have longed for a return of the Latin Mass, the celebration of the Tridentine rite at St. Andrew on Sunday, Jan. 6, was a spiritual feast.

“It inspires my spirituality,” said Carol Morgan, a parishioner at St. Andrew who was one of the people who asked Father Schmit, St. Andrew’s pastor, to celebrate a Tridentine Mass. “It’s the Mass of saints and scholars.”

The Mass at St. Andrew was the first time a Tridentine Mass had been celebrated in the Diocese of Nashville since Pope Benedict XVI relaxed restrictions on the use of the Latin-language liturgy, which predates the Second Vatican Council, last July.

For Father Schmit, who has been a priest for more than 61 years, it was the first time he has celebrated a Tridentine Mass since the mid-1960s.

“I was still a little rusty in some of the prayers,” he said smiling.

But for most of the people in the pews, many of whom traveled several hours to attend the Mass, it didn’t matter.

“I love the old Mass,” said St. Andrew parishioner Ken Craven, who helped organize the Tridentine Mass. “To me this is the real thing.”

Request from the people

In his apostolic letter “Summorum Pontificum,” Pope Benedict said the Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal, commonly known as the Tridentine rite, should be made available in every parish where groups of the faithful desire it.

So when a small group of parishioners approached Father Schmit about celebrating a Tridentine Mass, he agreed, he said.

With the Tridentine rite, the prayers of the Mass are said or sung in Latin and the priest stands at the altar facing the tabernacle with his back to the congregation.[Okay… well…. it could be a little better description, but this isn’t bad. At least there is a mention of the tabernacle. The problem is that the CROSS is the real point, not the tabernacle.] The liturgy was changed after the Second Vatican Council with the most prominent changes being the Mass celebrated in the local language and the priest facing the congregation.

Although St. Andrew Church is less than 10 years old, it didn’t require many changes to prepare it for the Tridentine Mass, Father Schmit said. The altar was moved back a few feet toward the tabernacle behind it, and he placed a small shelf on the altar to hold the candles. For a communion rail, they used the first row of pews.

Father Schmit celebrated a typical high Mass under the Tridentine rite with several of the prayers sung in Latin, such as the Introit, the Kyre Eleison, Gloria and the Angus Dei, he said.

St. Andrew’s choir had just a few practices of the Latin hymns leading up to the Mass. “I was amazed how quickly it came back,” said Monica Palamachuck, a member of the choir.

For choir member Sherry Hickey, it was her first Latin Mass since she graduated from a Catholic high school in Illinois 40 years ago. “I liked it, but I still like the new way because you can understand” the language, she said.

However, the tradition and pageantry of the Tridentine Mass should be preserved, said Hickey, who encouraged the high school students in her religious education class at St. Andrew to attend the Tridentine Mass. “To appreciate where you are, you have to know where you came from.” [This is especially important for priests.]

Ancient and venerable rite

Carol Morgan grew up with the Tridentine rite. Her father was the organist for their parish in upstate New York for 35 years. “His love was the music in this Mass,” she said.

“This was the most ancient and venerable rite,” Morgan said. Because its roots reach so far back, she said, the rite helps her feel a connection to the time of Christ.

Father Schmit said the Tridentine Mass was solemn and devotional. “The Mass in the vernacular can be just as devotional,” he said, but the Tridentine rite is more solemn than the Mass as it has been celebrated since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council were instituted.

Father Schmit said he personally prefers celebrating the Mass in the vernacular so that the congregation can readily understand the prayers of the Mass, but that he prefers the actions of the Tridentine rite because they return some of the solemnity of the Mass lost with the changes of Vatican II.

“The Latin is not important, the solemnity is important,” Father Schmit said.

Morgan and her husband, Kemp, have traveled far and wide to attend Tridentine Masses in the past. Several are celebrated on a regular basis in the Diocese of Knoxville. There were many others at the Mass who traveled a great distance to be there.

Nancy and John Glass drove 2½ hours from their home in Fayetteville to attend the Tridentine Mass at St. Andrew.

“We have been waiting for this for a long, long time,” Nancy Glass said. “This is a glorious occasion.”

When they lived in Rockford, Ill., they attended a church that offered a regular Tridentine Mass. “And we have searched and prayed that the Latin Mass would appear in the Diocese of Nashville. I think it will,” Mrs. Glass said.

In recent years, interest in the Tridentine rite has grown among young people as well. Nathan West, who is college-aged, was one of the altar servers for the Mass at St. Andrew.

“Oh my goodness. I would do it every day if I could,” West said. “I would travel miles and hours to go to it,” drawn by “the reverence, the solemnity and the beauty” of the Mass, he said.

Morgan and others hope that eventually, the Tridentine Mass will be offered regularly at St. Andrew or elsewhere in the diocese.

Right now, there is a small group of people in the Cookeville and Sparta area who are interested in the Tridentine Mass, Father Schmit said. He’s trying to determine if the interest is strong enough to offer the Mass on a regular basis at St. Andrew.

Bishop David Choby has invited a Norbertine priest, Father William Fitzgerald, o.praem., to come to the Diocese of Nashville to train several priests who have expressed an interest in celebrating the Mass in the Tridentine rite.

“It’s been 40 years since the liturgy and the Latin rite has been celebrated according to the Tridentine formula,” so the vast majority of priests in the diocese were never trained in the rite or have little experience with it, Bishop Choby said.

The rubrics, or the rules for celebrating a liturgy, are quite different for the Tridentine rite than the current rite, called the novus ordo. “Those can be rather involved,” Bishop Choby said.

The Tridentine rite is not to replace the new Mass rite, according to Pope Benedict’s apostolic letter, but the pope expressed sympathy with Catholics who are attached to the Tridentine rite and uncomfortable with the new Mass. In the post-Vatican II period, he said, excessive liturgical creativity often led to “deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear.”

“I’m happy that we can respond to the provisions being made by the Holy Father … to respond to individuals who, as he puts it, have a certain affection for … the Tridentine Liturgy,” Bishop Choby said. [Hurray for Bp. Choby!]

“The Latin is not important, the solemnity is important,” Father Schmit said.

I vigorously disagree with this, and so did the Council of Trent, which anathemized
anyone who advocated for a vernacular-only Mass. However, kudos to Fr. Schmit
for stepping-up to the plate and offering this Mass for his parishoners.

Uh oh, we find ourselves once again in that ever-fragile distinction between what is the “real” Mass.

Surely we can be champions of “both/and”, yes? Or….or is that not truly the end prize? Maybe “one not the other” is the real goal of some, but prudence suggests that in the meantime “both/and” be promoted. At least, promoted for awhile.

If I sound preachy, forgive me. But if I do preach it is to both sides of this liturgical fence, a fence decorated more with barbed wire than lovely vines and ivy. Both forms are valid, or so the Pontiff says.

Hehe, yeah. Latin is just some superfluous and perhaps unfortunate baggage in the liturgical tradition. A very dismal and sadly pervasive attitude that is ironically far from the all-important spirit of Vatican II. This good father should read Arinze’s thing from that other post. ;-)

“Right now, there is a small group of people in the Cookeville and Sparta area who are interested in the Tridentine Mass, Father Schmit said. He’s trying to determine if the interest is strong enough to offer the Mass on a regular basis at St. Andrew.”

I am very happy for the parishoners at St. Andrew! However, the good Father Schmit needs to understand one very important point, and I think a lot of priests miss this. It is that when then Traditional Mass is available to the masses (no pun intended), the people will come. If only 20 people come the first week, 25 will come the second, and then 30 and then 40. Once people are exposed to the Traditional Mass, they will be drawn to it and to its beauty. But if the Mass is not offered, people will not go! You can’t judge the attraction of people to something that’s not there.

Please pray for a return of the Tridentine Mass to the upstate of South Carolina. We used to have it on a weekly basis, then monthly, now it’s ad hoc.

I just found this for myself on the Nashville diocese website. The wife and I are thinking of moving to Nashville (or back in my case) and the one thing we would miss most is our parish (St. John Cantius in Chicago). First time I’ve seen a story that makes me so happy I’m in the neighborhood of being on the verge of tears.

He’s trying to determine if the interest is strong enough to offer the Mass on a regular basis at St. Andrew.

I doubt there\’s a multi-Mass parish anywhere than a really enthusiastic and persistent pastor could not develop \”strong enough\” interest in the traditional Mass — or at least a Latin Novus Ordo — which gives such great glory to God and assures a steady flow of vocations. After all, what does the word \”evangelist\” mean? Shouldn\’t every pastor be one?

Obviously, I’m biased, but I pray that the Mass at St. Andrew’s is here to stay.

It may be worth noting that Sparta is relatively close to a university which was out on Christmas Break when the Mass was held. I would expect the numbers to increase (as well as the percentage of young people) with school in session.

“The Latin is not important, the solemnity is important,” Father Schmit said.

Father is correct regarding his second point…why he insisted upon his first point is beyond me. Latin is important, Father.

“He’s trying to determine if the interest is strong enough to offer the Mass on a regular basis at St. Andrew.”

Father, if even just a handful of Faithful assist at the TLM, then interest is “strong enough.”

The story goes that God is asked as to why he hasn’t created a person who would somebody discover the cure to cancer. God replied that He did so…sadly, said person was aborted.

The moral: Even the life of one person is precious…and opting for life is always worthwhile.

Another story…a priest offers the Traditional Latin Mass each Sunday…just a handful of people assist each Sunday…but the priest doesn’t concern himself with “strong enough” interest. But within the small group in question is one person who had departed the Church but returned via the Traditional Latin Mass.

The moral: Heaven (and each Catholic) would rejoice as the eternal life of even one soul is precious…and offering the TLM is always worthwhile.

Sid is correct: Nashville has a good bishop. Surprisingly enough, Tennessee has a rich Catholic history, from Memphis to Knoxville. Bishop Choby hails from the Catholic establishment in Nashville. At one time the entire state of Tennessee was one diocese until 1971 when the Diocese of Memphis was established. From 1936 to 1969, the Bishop of Nashville was Bishop William L. Adrian, whose goal was to establish a parish in every county of the state of Tennessee, a challenging goal that he almost met. Bishop Adrian’s hobby was carpentry, and he personally built most of the the altars for the new churches in Tennessee during his tenure as bishop. It was his personal gift to parishes. In the aftermath of Vatican II and the ascension Coadjutor Bishop Joseph A. Durick as Bishop of Nashville, Bishop Adrian’s altars were relegated to altars of repose or removed completely. I am happy to hear that these beautiful altars still intact might actually be used once again!

I long for a regularly scheduled Tridentine Mass here in Los Angeles. There is to a point. Each week there is a regularly scheduled Mass but it’s in a different location, so that in effect one attends the Tridentine Mass once a month. It’s almost like mission territory out here again with Father travelling here and there to say Mass. The only real exception is St Therese parish, Alhambra, where the Usus Antiquior is celebrated on the 3rd, 4th and 5th Sundays–by the same travelling priest. God bless Father and all his efforts. He has been doing this now for nearly ten years.

=====

About Father Schmit’s comment on “Latin’s unimportance,” I say ignorance comes in myriad forms at all levels of life.

Call me crazy, but I think we should be thanking this priest for responding to the request of his parishioners and being the first priest to bring back the (licit) celebration of the TLM to Middle Tennessee, rather than criticizing him and saying he needs to understand this and he needs to do that, and he shouldn’t have said this. The man has already done something that none of the pastors of the diocese’s other 50 or so parishes has done.

Like it or not, TLM is not in the Catholic “mainstream.” If we want to win “mainstream” priests to our side, it would probably behoove us to focus more on the positive when one of them, you know, actually makes an effort.

What the article doesn’t mention is that there already is a TLM in Nashville (I think from the indult days) at Mary of the Seven Sorrows church in downtown Nashville on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of every month. Unfortunately, I visited town on the 2nd Sunday but what I did find out that before Holy Communion, the lector reminded everyone that it was the custom there to KNEEL when receiving Communion. (Gee, what a novel idea!) Seven Sorrows is also the oldest continuously used church in Nashville since the 1840s or ’50s, I recall.

re the Nashville Dominicans, all my kids went to one of their schools (two still do). While they are orthodox in theology and devout in practice, I have never known one to be even the slightest bit interested in a traditional liturgy. In fact, they seem unfortunately quite casual about liturgical matters; I cannot imagine any of them taking an interest in the Old Mass, although II wish they would; their influence would undoubtedly bring the Extraordinary Form to my parish when (by all appearances) nothing and no one else will.

Thanks. But, maybe they are gearing themselves up for the Extraordinary Form. I think that any one who claims to be a Catholic of the Latin Rite and can get to know their rite must get to know and love their rite entirely. There are no half measures when it comes to love of the Lord!

Above posters are correct about St. Mary’s downtown (dedicated in 1847 and used continuously since then except a brief stint when it served as a military hospital. It was the Cathedral for the Diocese of Tennessee/Nashville until 1914). We have a Latin Novus Ordo on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month. Until this (about which I hadn’t heard, so thanks, Fr. Z — I am in school in west TN and am somewhat out of the Nashville loop), the only TLM in middle TN was an SSPX chapel in Franklin.

Search Fr. Z’s Blog

Search for:

SHOPPING ONLINE? Please, always come here first!

Enter Amazon through my link.
Use the search bar below.
Fr Z will get a small percentage of what you spend.

Here's Fr. Z's
"catholic" search for Amazon:
US HERE - UK HERE
And you do need a Kindle! - HERE

“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z

YOUR RECENT COMMENTS

monstrance: Perhaps the Holy Father’s recent experience with the Chilean sex abuse scandal served as a bucket of cold water. The “Who am I to judge “ stance received a severe dose of reality.

Cafea Fruor: I forget things all the time, and not from nerves. I just forget, even if I just prepared myself right before going in. The only solution I’ve found is to write everything down...

Amerikaner: In practice the decisions are made by the Rectors 230; and pertinent info may not therefore be passed on to a bishop before ordination .

Ave Maria: One time it is “Who am I to judge̶ 1; or recently “God made you gay” (paraphras e?) and there was the welcoming of a homosexual couple at the Vatican and also a...

dbf223: Why is a Cardinal of the Church giving anyone investment advice? I know this is Honduras and not, say, Switzerlan d, but if you’ re the widow of a former high level government offic...

millercr2: I travel 115K+ miles per year on United Airlines and while I don’ t record tail numbers, I was told by an industry insider to glance at the serial number that can be found inside...

dbf223: Correction – Damon Linker isn’ t an Italian journalist . I suppose I’m simply used to seeing this type of work come out of the Italian press.

dbf223: I think that this analysis, and some of the comments, are missing something important: the Church of the future isn’ t going to be determined by anything any Pope can do from Rome....

Kevin: And I just found an article by Archbishop Chaput on First Things. https://ww w.firstthi ngs.com/we b-exclusiv es/2018/05 /what-happ ens-in-ger many

Marc in Eugene: ‘If you have the slightest doubt̵ 7;. Well, are there prelates who are programmat ically going to avoid having any doubts at all about prospectiv e homosexual candidates ?...

Malta: It seems he contradict s himself to some degree on the issue of homosexual ity (cf: http://the week.com/a rticles/77 4517/pope- francis-cu nning-long -game) But I think this is a good...

Kevin: My issue with the various Bishop Conference s is we will have the Germans allowing Communion for protestant spouses 230;we have the Bishops from Malta allowing communion for irregu...

TonyO: We Jesuits always have to remember that most Catholics are not Jesuits — a fact we tend to overlook sometimes. Our spirituali ty is not for everyone — perhaps hard to say, but so true. Oh,...

Grant M: Ah those intransige nt trads. Unwilling to exchange the seasons of Epiphany, Septuagesi ma and Pentecost for the poetry of Ordinary Time, A, B and C. Still maybe Pope Paul had a Cunning...

rcg: Of course this a good thing. But it is going to be the focus of state sponsored attacks on the Church and will probably, and unfortunat ely, be quite effective.

Julia_Augusta: Is that the ReaderR 17;s Guide to Augustine& #8217;s City of God by Gerard O’Da ly? Is it worth buying if one is going to read City of God? [It is helpful!] US HERE –...

TonyO: Well, with regard to the investment advice, it is a bit hard to lay the accusation of defrauding widows and orphans against Card. Rodriguez Maradiaga, for it was not he who defrauded her,...

JonPatrick: Although many cities have experience d decline, Detroit is somewhat of a special case being dependent on the auto industry. Initially it was very prosperous which attracted immigra...

JonPatrick: Hmm, a downturn in vocations. Would it be worth looking into those places in the Church where vocations are flourishin g and seminaries are bursting at the seams? Like the traditiona l...

Traductora: Francis has already said that he plans to set things up in such a way that they cannot be reversed (in other words, there can be no Summorum Pontificum of the future). He’s also appoi...

roma247: And who should have the answer to our tears of confusion and frustratio n as we watch this painful disintegra tion, but our good Mother in Heaven, Mary? Look at her in the Pieta: she...

dholwell: We constantly pray for vocations, and for our priests and bishops.

teomatteo: My thought on the pope’ ;s vision is pretty simple: he’l l move the Church closer to the Orthodox and the next pope and the next and say in 2065 we can sign a statement of...

TonyO: Pope Francis is 82 next Dec. He doesn’t have time. He himself admits it. That means he has not enough time to change the shape of the electorate ; It may be true – or, more proba...

Charles E Flynn: There is a cable TV show called “Ame rican Greed̶ 1;, narrated by Stacy Keach. I wonder if there is a narrator suitable for “Hon duran Greed̶ 1;.

Paypal Donation

Let us pray…

Grant unto thy Church, we beseech
Thee, O merciful God, that She, being
gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may
be in no wise troubled by attack from her
foes.
O God, who by sin art offended and by
penance pacified, mercifully regard the
prayers of Thy people making supplication
unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of
Thine anger which we deserve for our sins.
Almighty and Everlasting God, in
whose Hand are the power and the
government of every realm: look down upon
and help the Christian people that the heathen
nations who trust in the fierceness of their
own might may be crushed by the power of
thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee
in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world
without end. R. Amen.

My "challenge coin" for my 25th anniversary of ordination in 2016.

Want one? I do exchanges with military and LEOs, etc. and you can make a donation.

I travel a good deal. As I get older, it takes more of a toll. My main airline - sigh - is Delta. Were I to get some Gift Cards for Delta, I could more easily upgrade for longer flights. I'm just sayin'. I'd be much obliged. HERE

New miscellaneous releases and events

Yes, Fr. Z is taking ads…

For example...

A great hymnal…

Because it matters what children read…

I carry one of these super-strong rosaries in my spare mag pouch! The Swiss Guards have them too!

The Swiss Guard have these rosaries!For the story clickHERE and HERE (esp. 18:00)

Because you don’t know when you are going to need to move fast or get along without the supermarket…

To set up a recurring, monthly donation via PAYPAL (even a small one) go to the bottom of this blog and look for the drop down menu! Do you want yet another alternative to PayPal? I have set up an account with
CONTINUE TO GIVE
Get a link to donate via CONTINUE TO GIVE using your smart phone.
SEND MESSAGE:
4827563
TO:
715-803-4772
They take a larger percent taste, but they are an alternative.

I remember benefactors in my prayers and periodically say Mass for your intention.

This catechism helped to bring Fr. Z into the Catholic Church!

Be a “Zed-Head”!

Fathers, you don’t know who might show up! It could be a “big fish” of one sort or other…

And... GO TO CONFESSION!

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”

What people say about Fr. Z

"Rev. John Zuhlsdorf, a traditionalist blogger who has never shied from picking fights with priests, bishops or cardinals when liturgical abuses are concerned."
- Kractivism

"Father John Zuhlsdorf is a crank" "Father Zuhlsdorf drives me crazy" "the hate-filled Father John Zuhlsford" [sic]"Father John Zuhlsdorf, the right wing priest who has a penchant for referring to NCR as the 'fishwrap'"
- Michael Sean Winters

"Fr Z is a true phenomenon of the information age: a power blogger and a priest."
- Anna Arco

“Given that Rorate Coeli and Shea are mad at Fr. Z, I think it proves Fr. Z knows what he is doing and he is right.”
- Comment

"Let me be clear. Fr. Z is a shock jock, mostly. His readership is vast and touchy. They like to be provoked and react with speed and fury."
- Sam Rocha

"Father Z’s Blog is a bright star on a cloudy night."
- Comment

"A cross between Kung Fu Panda and Wolverine."
- Anonymous

Fr. Z is officially a hybrid of Gandalf and Obi-Wan XD
- Comment

Rev. John Zuhlsdorf, a scrappy blogger popular with the Catholic right.
- America Magazine

RC integralist who prays like an evangelical fundamentalist.
-Austen Ivereigh on Twitter

“For me the saddest thing about Father Z’s blog is how cruel it is.... It’s astonishing to me that a priest could traffic in such cruelty and hatred.”
- Jesuit homosexualist James Martin to BuzzFeed

Fr. Z's is one of the more cheerful blogs out there and he is careful about keeping the crazies out of his commboxes
- Paul in comment at 1 Peter 5

I am a Roman Catholic, in no small part, because of your blog.
I am a TLM-going Catholic, in no small part, because of your blog.
And I am in a state of grace today, in no small part, because of your blog.
- Tom in comment

"Thank you for the delightful and edifying omnibus that is your blog."- Reader comment.

More stuff…

Archives

ENTRY CALENDAR

Do you use my blog often? Is it helpful to you?

If so, please consider subscribing to send a monthly donation. That way I have steady income I can plan on, and you wind up regularly on my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I periodically say Holy Mass.

Some options

Admin Stuff

The opinions expressed on this blog do not necessarily reflect the positions of any of the Catholic Church's entities with which I am involved. They are my own. Opinions expressed by commentators in the comments belong to the commentators.